Season 20 Rules

•     General

 

Season 20 Rules

 

•    Ignorance of the rules does not pardon any violation.

•     The Code of Conduct applies to this contest and can be viewed here. Player communication and conduct are to be kept as civil as possible. While playful banter is acceptable, any abusive act or communication is unacceptable.

•    Players must use their name and Steam Account registered with the NSL.

•     Any issues or disputes are subject to Referee discretion and Admin review. Referees or Admin will  be available on the NSL discord if they are not present in the match.

•    All streamers must use a 3 minute/180 second delay. (With exception to players on a team who have permission from their captain/team leader to stream)

 

•     Server Rules

•    Servers will be selected by an admin or referee to assure that a fair match is played. server is selected based on giving all players the lowest ping possible. Both team captains can however refuse a admin/referee selectiong the server and may choose their own.
In the event a server can not be chosen decisively between 2 servers it will be put to a cointoss with the heads being the team to come first alphabetically.

•    NYC/Chapel Hill will occasionally be the best when there are several West Coast NA players.

•    EU vs AUS/Pacific Region - Chapel Hill/RUS

•     NA vs AUS/Pacific Region - Chapel Hill/NYC

 

•     Team & Merc Rules

•    Rosters are capped at 8 members for each team.

•    Rosters will be locked upon Season start.

•    Teams are required to have 6 players on their roster to sign up and must start at least 4 members each match.

i) Teams may use a maximum of 2 Mercs per match.

•    Players must be registered on the roster of a team to be counted as a member.

•    Players added to a team during the regular season will be not be considered members for up to 2 weeks.

•   Players are considered Mercs during this 2 week period.

•    Team Captain must inform the Executive and Events Admins immediately when there are roster changes.

•   Players can only become a member of one team for the entire season.

i) Once a player joins a team’s roster, they can no longer join another roster for the entire season (under some circumstances admins may allow them to join another team).

•   Mercs cannot be from teams that are currently or formerly participating in the contest unless 

    approved by the opposing team’s captain.

•   Mercs should be approved by opposing captains, but may be contested within reason.

•   Reasons to contest:

•    Perceived excessive competitive advantage gained by a Merc.

•    Use of Merc is inappropriate (e.g. team has available players).

i) Disagreements will ultimately be settled by Refs or Admins.

 

•     Tournament Rules

 

•     Regular Season

•   Scheduling

•    teams will be matched up against another team and play each side (alien/marine) on 2 maps.

•    Team captains must negotiate a time/date to play their matches.

•      Scheduling between captains should be done on the  captains lounge within the NSL discord.

•      Once a date/time is agreed on, captains must confirm it with an event team member or admin within Match Scheduling with both captains confiming it.

•    All matches must be completed by the set deadline for the regular seasons end.

•    Scoring

•    A round ends when the victory screen is displayed.

•    Teams can earn 4 points per matchup.

•    Each round is worth 1 point.

•     Forfeits and Draws

•    Forfeits and draws may be made if a match is not played within the allocated time.

•    If both teams fail to communicate a 0-0 draw will be given.

•    If a team captain attempts to schedule a match and the other captain is unresponsive a 4-0 forfeit win will be awarded to the proactive captain’s team.

•    If both captains cannot agree on a time/date, the Executive or Event Admins

    may  intervene and set a date.

•     Season End

•    Three teams will advance to the Playoffs for Division 1

•    Criteria for advancement to the Playoffs (in descending order of priority) are as follows:

•      Most Points (Example: 2 points > 1 point)

•      Most matches won (Example: Record of 2-1-1 > Record of 1-1-2)

•      Head to Head matchup comparison.

•      Coin Flip

 

•     Playoffs

•   Playoffs are single elimination, which means that a team is eliminated after losing a matchup. ii) The Semi-Finals will be a Bo3 format.

•    Bo3 - Teams play and alternate sides on up to 2 maps until one team has 2 wins.

•     The Finals will be a Bo5 format.

•    Bo5 - Teams play and alternate sides on up to 3 maps until one team has 3 wins.

•     A third place match will be played in a Bo3 format.

•    Side and map picks are determined by a coin toss in all Playoff matchups.

•     Maps cannot be played twice in a series.

•      A round ends when the victory screen is displayed.

 

•    Coin Flips

•   Coin flips should be used to determine the following:

•    Decision to ban maps first or second

•      Only applicable to Bo3/Bo5 matchups.

•    Side choice - Whether to start Marine or Alien.

•    Map choice - Which map to play.

•    Coin flips are done on the match server and in the presence of each team’s captain. iii) By default, the first team listed on the match page is “heads” and the second team is “tails.” iv) Procedures:.

•    Coin Flip

•      Winner decides the side to start or the map choice.

•     Choices will alternate after the first map.

•    Examples:

•      Regular Season:

•    Match #1

•      Coin Toss - Team B wins chooses map.

•    Team B Picks map: Jambi

•    Team A picks side: Aliens.

•     Match #2

•      Team B choses map: Summit.

•      team B chooses wich side to start:
Aliens

•      Playoffs:

•    Match #1

•      Coin Toss #1 - Team A wins

         •    Team A Choses to ban maps 2nd.

         •    Team B bans 1st map → Team A bans 1st map → 

    Team B  bans 2nd map → Team A bans 2nd map.

•      Coin Toss #2 - Team A wins again.

•    Team A picks map Jambi to play.

•    Team B choses to start Alien

•     Match #2

•      Team B MUST choose a map: they select Tram

•      Team A has the choice of side: they select Marines.

•       Matches #3-5

•      Alternate and repeat choices.

 

•     Maps Bans

•   During Playoffs each team will ban 2 maps.

•    The winner of the Coin Flip #1 decides to ban maps first or second.

•     Maps should be banned before Coin Flip #2.

•     Bans are alternated until each team’s bans are used.

 

•    Map Pool

•   Regular Season:

•    ns2_biodamnnn

•    ns2_jambi

•    ns2_mineral

•    ns2_nexus

•    ns2_summit_v344

•    ns2_tram

•    ns2_unearthed_butbetter

•       ns2_veil

•    Playoffs:

•    ns2_biodamnnn

•    ns2_jambi

•    ns2_mineral

•    ns2_nexus

•    ns2_summit_v344

•    ns2_tram

•    ns2_veil

 

•       Caster Information

•       A caster must have their own account on streaming sites (most likely Twitch,) and a OBS such as streamlabs set up as to be able to cast games. May not be necessary to have a OBS if you are solely a co-caster.

 

•       Casters are required to keep focus on having the cast relevant to NS2 and the gameplay, especially with a co-caster who you can converse with. Moments of downtime in the gameplay can consist of talk about non-gameplay topics as to keep the cast a steady pace and not become lackluster. Casters should be ready to talk about the gameplay the moment a key fight occurs however.

 

•       Casters should try to be professional during casts. Casters are allowed to still have an opinion on why a play by a player may have been subpar, but should not needlessly flame the person due to any dislike or opinion of the person in question.

 

•       Streams must always have a 3-minute (180 seconds) delay if the caster is spectating the game. A player on a team may be able to stream with the permission of the captain/team leader.

 

•       In the case a caster is both an official caster and a player of a tournament, they must not cast any games where their team is playing officially against another team. This is to maintain game integrity.

•       Admins, Referees and Event host

 

•      Admins and referees may participate within a tournament.

•      particiapting admins and referees may not referee their own teams game.

•      Listed admins and referees are the partaking members in moderating the tournament. Additionally they are listed in order of who you should contact first with a problem with the tournament.

•      All admins and referees can be found and contacted within the NSL discord.

•      Admins for this event are:
Fluffylerk
CRaZyCAT
knifey
Ammon
GreenRex

•      Referees for this event are:

•      Additionally the NSL has 2 Ombudsman for contacting about issues you may be having with staff. Ombudsman do not moderate the tournament as staff members but as a outside source trusted by the community. The Ombudsman Ritual (NA) can also be contacted within the NSL discord. The other Ombudsman kittn (EU)can also be contacted within the NSL discord

 

•      Admins not listed may still be able to moderate the tournament and matches